Ayub 6:17

6:17 When they are scorched, ¹  they dry up,

when it is hot, they vanish ²  from their place.

Ayub 6:19

6:19 The caravans of Tema ³  looked intently ⁴  for these streams; ⁵ 

the traveling merchants ⁶  of Sheba hoped for them.

Ayub 8:12

8:12 While they are still beginning to flower ⁷ 

and not ripe for cutting, ⁸ 

they can wither away ⁹ 

faster ¹⁰  than any grass! ¹¹ 

Ayub 14:8

14:8 Although its roots may grow old ¹²  in the ground

and its stump begins to die ¹³  in the soil, ¹⁴ 

Ayub 14:18

14:18 But as ¹⁵  a mountain falls away and crumbles, ¹⁶ 

and as a rock will be removed from its place,

Ayub 22:24

22:24 and throw ¹⁷  your gold ¹⁸  in the dust –

your gold ¹⁹  of Ophir

among the rocks in the ravines –

Ayub 28:10

28:10 He has cut out channels ²⁰  through the rocks;

his eyes have spotted ²¹  every precious thing.

Ayub 29:6

29:6 when my steps ²²  were bathed ²³  with butter ²⁴ 

and the rock poured out for me streams of olive oil! ²⁵ 

Ayub 29:24

29:24 If I smiled at them, they hardly believed it; ²⁶ 

and they did not cause the light of my face to darken. ²⁷ 

Ayub 36:30

36:30 See how he scattered ²⁸  his lightning ²⁹  about him;

he has covered the depths ³⁰  of the sea.

Ayub 38:22

38:22 Have you entered the storehouse ³¹  of the snow,

or seen the armory ³²  of the hail,

[6:17]  ¹ tn The verb יְזֹרְבוּ (yÿzorÿvu, “burnt, scorched”) occurs only here. A good number of interpretations take the root as a by-form of צָרַב (tsarav) which means in the Niphal “to be burnt” (Ezek 21:3). The expression then would mean “in the time they are burnt,” a reference to the scorching heat of the summer (“when the great heat comes”) and the rivers dry up. Qimchi connected it to the Arabic “canal,” and this has led to the suggestion by E. Dhorme (Job, 88) that the root זָרַב (zarav) would mean “to flow.” In the Piel it would be “to cause to flow,” and in the passive “to be made to flow,” or “melt.” This is attractive, but it does require the understanding (or supplying) of “ice/snow” as the subject. G. R. Driver took the same meaning but translated it “when they (the streams) pour down in torrents, they (straightway) die down” (ZAW 65 [1953]: 216-17). Both interpretations capture the sense of the brooks drying up.

[6:17]  ² tn The verb נִדְעֲכוּ (nid’akhu) literally means “they are extinguished” or “they vanish” (cf. 18:5-6; 21:17). The LXX, perhaps confusing the word with the verb יָדַע (yada’, “to know”) has “and it is not known what it was.”

[6:19]  ³ sn Tema is the area of the oasis SE of the head of the Gulf of Aqaba; Sheba is in South Arabia. In Job 1:15 the Sabeans were raiders; here they are traveling merchants.

[6:19]  ⁴ tn The verb נָבַט (navat) means “to gaze intently”; the looking is more intentional, more of a close scrutiny. It forms a fine parallel to the idea of “hope” in the second part. The NIV translates the second verb קִוּוּ (qivvu) as “look in hope.” In the previous verbs the imperfect form was used, expressing what generally happens (so the English present tense was used). Here the verb usage changes to the perfect form. It seems that Job is narrating a typical incident now – they looked, but were disappointed.

[6:19]  ⁵ tn The words “for these streams” are supplied from context to complete the thought and make the connection with the preceding context.

[6:19]  ⁶ tn In Ps 68:24 this word has the meaning of “processions”; here that procession is of traveling merchants forming convoys or caravans.

[8:12]  ⁷ tn The word has been traditionally translated “greenness” (so KJV, ASV), but some modern commentators argue for “in flower.” The word is found only in Song 6:11 (where it may be translated “blossoms”). From the same root is אָבִיב (’aviv, “fresh young ears of barley”). Here the word refers to the plant that is still in its early stages of flowering. It should not be translated to suggest the plant is flowering (cf. NRSV), but translating as if the plant is green (so NASB) is also problematic.

[8:12]  ⁸ sn The idea is that as the plant begins to flower, but before it is to be cut down, there is no sign of withering or decay in it. But if the water is withdrawn, it will wither sooner than any other herb. The point Bildad will make of this is that when people rebel against God and his grace is withheld, they perish more swiftly than the water reed.

[8:12]  ⁹ tn The imperfect verb here is the modal use of potential, “can wither away” if the water is not there.

[8:12]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “before.”

[8:12]  ¹¹ tn The LXX interprets the line: “does not any herb wither before it has received moisture?”

[14:8]  ¹² tn The Hiphil of זָקַן (zaqan, “to be old”) is here an internal causative, “to grow old.”

[14:8]  ¹³ tn The Hiphil is here classified as an inchoative Hiphil (see GKC 145 §53.e), for the tree only begins to die. In other words, it appears to be dead, but actually is not completely dead.

[14:8]  ¹⁴ tn The LXX translates “dust” [soil] with “rock,” probably in light of the earlier illustration of the tree growing in the rocks.

[14:8]  sn Job is thinking here of a tree that dies or decays because of a drought rather than being uprooted, because the next verse will tell how it can revive with water.

[14:18]  ¹⁵ tn The indication that this is a simile is to be obtained from the conjunction beginning 19c (see GKC 499 §161.a).

[14:18]  ¹⁶ tn The word יִבּוֹל (yibbol) usually refers to a flower fading and so seems strange here. The LXX and the Syriac translate “and will fall”; most commentators accept this and repoint the preceding word to get “and will surely fall.” Duhm retains the MT and applies the image of the flower to the falling mountain. The verb is used of the earth in Isa 24:4, and so NIV, RSV, and NJPS all have the idea of “crumble away.”

[22:24]  ¹⁷ tc The form is the imperative. Eliphaz is telling Job to get rid of his gold as evidence of his repentance. Many commentators think that this is too improbable for Eliphaz to have said, and that Job has lost everything anyway, and so they make proposals for the text. Most would follow Theodotion and the Syriac to read וְשָׁתָּ (vÿshatta, “and you will esteem….”). This would mean that he is promising Job restoration of his wealth.

[22:24]  tn Heb “place.”

[22:24]  ¹⁸ tn The word for “gold” is the rare בֶּצֶר (betser), which may be derived from a cognate of Arabic basara, “to see; to examine.” If this is the case, the word here would refer to refined gold. The word also forms a fine wordplay with בְצוּר (bÿtsur, “in the rock”).

[22:24]  ¹⁹ tn The Hebrew text simply has “Ophir,” a metonymy for the gold that comes from there.

[28:10]  ²⁰ tn Or “tunnels.” The word is יְאֹרִים (yÿ’orim), the word for “rivers” and in the singular, the Nile River. Here it refers to tunnels or channels through the rocks.

[28:10]  ²¹ tn Heb “his eye sees.”

[29:6]  ²² tn The word is a hapax legomenon, but the meaning is clear enough. It refers to the walking, the steps, or even the paths where one walks. It is figurative of his course of life.

[29:6]  ²³ tn The Hebrew word means “to wash; to bathe”; here it is the infinitive construct in a temporal clause, “my steps” being the genitive: “in the washing of my steps in butter.”

[29:6]  ²⁴ tn Again, as in Job 21:17, “curds.”

[29:6]  ²⁵ tn The MT reads literally, “and the rock was poured out [passive participle] for me as streams of oil.” There are some who delete the word “rock” to shorten the line because it seems out of place. But olive trees thrive in rocky soil, and the oil presses are cut into the rock; it is possible that by metonymy all this is intended here (H. H. Rowley, Job [NCBC], 186).

[29:24]  ²⁶ tn The connection of this clause with the verse is difficult. The line simply reads: “[if] I would smile at them, they would not believe.” Obviously something has to be supplied to make sense out of this. The view adopted here makes the most sense, namely, that when he smiled at people, they could hardly believe their good fortune. Other interpretations are strained, such as Kissane’s, “If I laughed at them, they believed not,” meaning, people rejected the views that Job laughed at.

[29:24]  ²⁷ tn The meaning, according to Gordis, is that they did nothing to provoke Job’s displeasure.

[36:30]  ²⁸ tn The word actually means “to spread,” but with lightning as the object, “to scatter” appears to fit the context better.

[36:30]  ²⁹ tn The word is “light,” but taken to mean “lightning.” Theodotion had “mist” here, and so most commentators follow that because it is more appropriate to the verb and the context.

[36:30]  ³⁰ tn Heb “roots.”

[38:22]  ³¹ sn Snow and ice are thought of as being in store, brought out by God for specific purposes, such as times of battle (see Josh 10:11; Exod 9:2ff.; Isa 28:17; Isa 30:30; and Ps 18:12 [13]).

[38:22]  ³² tn The same Hebrew term (אוֹצָר, ’otsar), has been translated “storehouse” in the first line and “armory” in the second. This has been done for stylistic variation, but also because “hail,” as one of God’s “weapons” (cf. the following verse) suggests military imagery; in this context the word refers to God’s “ammunition dump” where he stockpiles hail.